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Finding My Way

Chapter 2

The two weeks fly by and the McBains do all the touristy stuff of visiting the museums and monuments and even stop by the FBI headquarters where John will work. Liam especially enjoys the Smithsonian Museum and has a great time with the interactive exhibits there.  Of course when it comes time for Liam and Michael to fly back to Llanview a few tears are shed but everyone agrees that they will keep in touch.

Now John has two weeks alone before he starts his job.  He decides to start his routine of going to bed at a decent hour so that he will awake refreshed to leave home with enough time to arrive at work on time taking into account traffic, if he decides to drive, and the metro schedule if he decides to take the metro.  He’s been away from the DC area for years and some things have changed and some have not so he wants to give himself enough time to make whatever adjustments necessary to make this transition as smooth as possible.

John’s new job requires some travel and working with other FBI offices around the country and sometimes abroad.  He’s signed up for language courses to brush up on some languages and learn a few more.  He’s conversational in Italian but needs to brush up on his French and wants to learn German and Russian.  Not to say that he will travel to Russia but it’s always been a language that he has wanted to learn.  He will use these two weeks to start the accelerated language courses and will continue them once he starts working.  

Although John has never been a ‘spendthrift’ he does want to budget his money now that he lives in a more expensive area than Llanview.  Of course he has automatic deductions to cover Liam’s care back in Llanview.  He does want to be able to enjoy all that the DC area has to offer like the theatre, and we don’t mean ‘movie houses’, the symphony orchestra, and things other than the sporting events.  

John thinks,

[It seems like my life has come full circle. I left DC to move to Llanview and now I’ve left Llanview to move to DC.  So much has happened in those intervening years and I wonder have I changed at all.  Even though I solved the murders of my dad and Caitlin there’s still something missing in my life.  I thought that I had found that missing piece with Natalie but I was wrong.  There’s still a feeling of ‘something missing’. I’m not getting any younger and after all that has happened in the years since I left DC I now know that I do want love in my life.  I want someone to share the simple and complex things of life with me. Even surprisingly enough I would like to get married and have children, other children than Liam.  I want to love and be loved and create children out of that love.  Maybe this is my time to leave the past in the past and create a present and future with hope and not the usual ‘doom’ that I seem to bring to everything. From this day forward that is what I will strive to do.]

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Six months later and John is knee deep in cases and enjoying every minute of it. He’s not too busy to take time out for an occasional get together with his new co-workers and they get along well.  Every other week he has a Skype session with Liam who tells John all about everything that he’s doing in school and how much he enjoys school.  John is glad that Liam seems to have adjusted well to school and John’s move.  John has even managed to take in a play and surprised himself by enjoying it. This weekend he will go to see his first opera, The Barber of Seville. Although this is the result of a dare from one of his co-workers, he plans to make the most of it. Never let it be said that John McBain is a ‘chicken’.  Now he wonders how he will survive sitting through all of the singing. Oh well too late for changing his mind.  He’ll make the best of this situation.  What’s the worst that can happen?

Well the worst did happen.  He fell asleep and one of his aisle mates had to wake him for the intermission.  He was so embarrassed and so for the second half me made every effort to stay awake and surprised himself by enjoying the ending.  He thanked his aisle mate and apologized for his faux pas and made it home in one piece vowing to not attend an opera again, well at least not after working twenty-four hours straight.  You live and learn.